1. To override all default templates, everywhere, change comments.tmpl to include a different topic (this customisation will be lost next time you upgrade, though).
2. To add site-wide local template customisations, add them to TWiki.UserCommentsTemplate. You can redefine the standard templates here if you want, and your definitions will override the standard definitions.
3. To override templates on a web-by-web basis, add a topic UserCommentsTemplate to the web (this will replace TWiki.UserCommentsTemplate)
4. To override templates for a specific skin, add them to TWiki.UserComments<Skin>Template (where <Skin> is the name of the skin with the first letter capitalised, e.g. Pattern)

Templates are picked up by following the standard TWiki rules for locating template files. Note that you can use %TMPL:INCLUDE to include other files of templates.

• Name of file in the 'templates' directory that contains the comment templates. The default 'comments.tmpl' automatically includes user templates from CommentsTmpl^?

• • Set DEFAULT_TYPE = below

• This plugin is pre-installed in most TWiki releases. However if you need to upgrade the plugin for any reason:
  • Download the archive file from the Plugin web (see below)
  • Unpack the archive in your twiki installation directory.
  • You may need to correct file permissions.
  • Run CommentPlugin_installer to automatically check and install other modules that this module depends on. You can also do this step manually. Dependencies: None
  • Visit configure in your TWiki installation, and enable the plugin in the {Plugins} section.

Comment Plugin

This plugin allows users to quickly post comments to a page without an edit/preview/save cycle.

( Discussion in TWiki:Plugins/CommentPluginDev )

Features

Inserts an edit box into the page that allows users to type in and save comments. Comments can be made

• in different formats (as defined by a template),
• in both forward and reverse chronological order,
• signed or unsigned, dated or undated (as defined by a template),
• in other topics, or other positions within the current topic.

Syntax Rules

Write the command %COMMENT{ attributes }% anywhere in a TWiki topic. %COMMENT% is also legal.

The following attributes are recognised

Positioning the comment

Location relative to %COMMENT tag

%COMMENT{type="below"}%

Location relative to a TWiki anchor

%COMMENT{type="above" target="%MAINWEB%.PersonalRemarks#InsertHere"}%

Location relative to an arbitrary text string

%COMMENT{type="above" location="Flights of Fancy"}%

Warning of course, if a user's comment contains the string "Flights of Fancy" they may and up changing the location for the next comment! Also, if you use a tag in the location, then you've just inserted another tag in the page that contains the %COMMENT! So be very careful how you specify the RE for location. Note that the RE is matched using perl "multiple line" mode, so ^ and $ match the start of a line and the end of a line respectively.

If you specify an anchor and a location, the anchor will be ignored.

Default templates

Your local installation may add more template types as well - see Customisation, below.

Customisation

• familiarity with HTML forms,
• some familiarity with the TWiki templating language.

The plugin picks up its templates from a standard TWiki template file, named "comments". This allows different templates to be defined for different TWiki skins. This template file may include other template files, or may include a topic from a user web (this is an extension to the normal handling of %TMPL:INCLUDE described in the documentation). The shipped plugin defines default templates in comments.tmpl and then includes the topic CommentsTmpl^?. If you want to define your own templates, add them to UserTemplates^?. Note that you can use %TMPL:INCLUDE in this file to include other files of templates. Note also that if you want to override any of the default templates shipped with the plugin, you can simply do so by defining them in UserTemplates^?, and they will replace the installed versions.

To define a comment type, you have to provide two simple template definitions in the template file; one for the prompt box, and one for the generated output. If we have a template type "mytype", these are named PROMPT:mytype and OUTPUT:mytype respectively. See comments.tmpl in the templates directory for examples.

The PROMPT template

Only the input fields of the form need be defined. The plugin automatically generates the >form< and &gt:/form< tags. Note that you must define a "submit" button if you want the form to work!

If an attribute is given to the %COMMENT tag that is not one of the standard attributes, then that attribute is taken as the name of a parameter to be expanded in the PROMPT template. Expressions in the template of the form %param|default% (e.g. %rows|3%, %button|Push me%) are expanded to the values given in the %COMMENT. For example, if the PROMPT template 'example' contains:

<textarea rows=%rows|3% cols="%cols|50%" value="%tval|Rubbish%">

%COMMENT{type="example" rows="5" cols="20"}%

<textarea rows=5 cols="20" value="Rubbish">

As well as support for all the usual TWiki variables in templates, the following special variables are supported in the PROMPT definition:

The OUTPUT template

There are also four position tags that are used to indicate where the comment should be placed, relative to the location defined in the %COMMENT tag:

Important Note regarding Locks

The plugin checks if the page is locked for edit. When a locked page is displayed in 'view' mode, comment input is automatically disabled.

Note that if the page was read long time ago, it's possible that page was locked by another user after it was read, and the lock is still outstanding. In this case, comments cannot be saved, and you will be redirected to a "topic is locked" page. You then have two options:

• Cancel - throw away your comment and return to viewing the page.
• Back - WARNING some browsers might requery the page and lose your comments - so test how your browser behaves before using the Back button.

To help avoid edit conflict, a reminder to refresh the page before entering comments is the default text for a %COMMENT. When the target page is known to be locked, the PROMPT form is automatically disabled.

Settings

• Description:
  • Set SHORTDESCRIPTION = Allows users to quickly post comments to a page without an edit/preview/save cycle.
• templates; includes user templates from CommentsTmpl^?
  • Set TEMPLATES = comments
• default template type (if not present, defaults to "below")
  • Set DEFAULT_TYPE = above

Plugin Installation Instructions

• Download the ZIP file from the Plugin web (see below)
• Unzip CommentPlugin.zip in your twiki installation directory. Content:

  File:	Description:
  data/TWiki/CommentPlugin.txt	Plugin doc page (this page)
  data/TWiki/CommentsTmpl.txt	Example user templates
  templates/comments.tmpl	Master comment templates
  lib/TWiki/Plugins/CommentPlugin.pm	Plugin Perl module
  lib/TWiki/Plugins/CommentPlugin/Comment.pm	Plugin Perl module
  lib/TWiki/Plugins/CommentPlugin/Templates.pm	Plugin Perl module
  lib/TWiki/Plugins/CommentPlugin/test.zip	Tests
  lib/TWiki/Plugins/CommentPlugin/build.pl	Build file

• The Plugin depends on the viewauth script to authenticate the user. As described in TWikiAccessControl, copy the view script to viewauth (or better, create a symbolic link) and add viewauth to the list of authenticated scripts in the .htaccess file.

If installed correctly, you should see a %COMMENT edit box below here.

<--/commentPlugin-->

Plugin Info

<-- Most recent first -->

Related Topics: TWikiPreferences, TWikiPlugins

-- TWiki:Main/DavidWeller - 05 Mar 2002
-- TWiki:Main/PeterMasiar - 15 Jul 2003, 23 Sep 2003
-- TWiki:Main/CrawfordCurrie - 21 May 2004